Teen charged with slaying of Silver Spring woman

The 17-year-old charged with killing a 35-year-old Briggs Chaney woman has a history of violent crime, including hitting and tying up his mother and threatening to kill her with scissors to gain access to her bank account, according to Montgomery County Circuit Court charging documents.

Ivo Priamo Portillo, a former Northwood High School student of no fixed address, was arrested and charged with murder Sept. 18 in the slaying of Rosa Lidia Vasquez, of the 3600 block of Castle Terrace. Vasquez had been reported missing since Sept. 1 by her ex-husband, who does not live with her. County detectives found her body early Friday morning stuffed in a blue plastic container in the corner of her backyard, according to court records and police.

Police believe Portillo, who had secretly spent the night of Aug. 30 with her 13-year-old daughter, killed Vasquez after she discovered him early the next morning in her home. Portillo sent a text to her daughter and his then-girlfriend that Vasquez had spotted him, the charging documents said. This was a problem, because Vasquez did not approve of the teens' relationship, according to the documents.

Vasquez and Portillo were alone together in the house the last time Vasquez was seen or heard from, according to charging documents.

At the time of the murder, Portillo was on probation for assault, armed robbery and theft charges. On Aug. 6, he beat his mother, who at the time lived in the 6300 block of Lone Oak Drive in Bethesda, after she arrived home around midnight, according to charging documents. Portillo asked his mother for the personal identification number (PIN) to a Chevy Chase bank card, according to the charging documents.

When she said she didn't know it, he started hitting her on her face and head, the documents said. He pulled her hands behind her back and gagged her and then tied her feet together, the documents said. Then he grabbed a pair of scissors and told her several times he would kill her with them unless she gave him the PIN number, according to the documents.

Portillo's mother told him that her other son may have the PIN, and she told him she could call him to get it if he let her loose, the documents said. But after he released her, she instead ran to the basement and called police. In the meantime, Portillo grabbed a blank check and two of his mother's cell phones and left the house, according to the documents. He was later charged with theft under $500.

Portillo has also been arrested for robbery and for assaulting the mother of his child, according to court documents. That case is still open, according to court records, but Portillo was charged as an adult for the crimes.

At about 10 a.m. Sept. 18, Portillo was arrested in the 200 block of West Deer Park Road in Gaithersburg in relation to Vasquez's death. Police focused on him as a suspect after a Sept. 7 New Jersey traffic stop in which a 2002 Honda Accord registered to Vasquez was pulled over on the New Jersey Turnpike. Portillo was one of two passengers in the car, according to charging documents. After his arrest, he admitted to detectives he killed Vasquez, the documents said.

Portillo is also a member of the violent Mara Salvatrucha gang, or MS-13, according to court records. He has not attended Montgomery County Public Schools since 2007, according to MCPS spokesman Chris Cram, and Northwood school officials did not return calls for comment this week.

The mystery of Vasquez's disappearance started when Vasquez's ex-husband told police she had last been seen at 7 a.m. Aug. 31, said Lt. Paul Starks, a Montgomery County Police spokesman.

Starks said police searched Vasquez's backyard last week, because they didn't think she had just run away.

"She just didn't fit," he said. "Her past and her circumstances pointed to a responsible adult, a mother. Her boss stated that she wouldn't just miss work."

For the past decade, Vasquez worked at the bakery at the Costco in Beltsville, where she developed a huge network of friends with whom she spent birthdays, holidays and other social occasions, according to Michael Hall, a manager at the store.

"She was the best person you would ever want to know, just always had a smile on her face. She never missed work, ever. She was loved by everybody," he said.

Vasquez also had a 15-year-old son, Hall said. This past weekend, Vasquez's family came out to a fundraiser at the store to help pay for Vasquez's funeral costs. The employees and community raised almost $11,000, which Hall said "is nothing short of incredible." The family also met with professional grief counselors the company had provided for its employees, Hall said.

The family has also established a Rosa Lidia Vasquez Memorial Fund at Bank of America, and donations from the public are welcome. Family members did not respond to requests for interviews.

Vasquez's murder marks the second this month in the Briggs Chaney area. But Starks made clear her killing has "absolutely nothing" to do with the Sept. 9 murder of 37-year-old Briggs Chaney resident Simone White, who was found shot to death near her apartment building at the 14100 block of Castle Boulevard. The apartment complex is about half a mile away from Vasquez's home.

"This homicide is an isolated event committed by someone known to her, and we have that person in custody," he said of Vasquez's death.

Portillo is being held without bond and does not have a lawyer yet, according to online court records.

Meanwhile, police have offered a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction of White's killer, who has not been found.

Police are asking anyone who has information regarding White's killing to call the department's Major Crimes Division at 240-773-5070. Callers may remain anonymous.